September 2014

If you scroll down past this blog, you will find a heading that says: WHAT WE DO. Under that heading you’ll find our ‘mandate’:
‘We're not scent experts, so these aren't critical reviews. We love all our fragrances - that’s why we bought them! But we describe how we think they smell, and share our stories about why we love them…’

I normally wear scent to amplify or celebrate a mood, but today I needed a perfume with strong bones. Something that would give me strength and comfort, because I was going to get very bad news, or very good news.

The first time I visited Milan, I was on the way to somewhere else. We were driving through Italy – Rome, Florence, Bologna - making our way north to meet up with friends in Geneva, and a couple of nights in Milan was on the itinerary.

Image - Wikipedia - Tom Of Finland's Room at the Foundation's house in Los Angeles 2002

To be successful in the fragrance business, your brand has to standout and French niche line Etat Libre d’Orange sure stands out. In an industry that thrives on appealing to romantic notions of scent, the Etat Libre d’Orange brand is bawdy, raunchy and droll, with blurred lines when it comes to gender designations.